When You Were Young

Label

Xl Recordings

Genre

Soul

Composer(s)

Adele Adkins;Tobias Jesso Jr.

Entered Chart

Aug 26, 2006

Peak Date

Oct 21, 2006

Released

20 November 2015

Recorded

2013Studio Dean Street Studios (London)

Catalog #

Island 007884

Newly-returned pop icon Adele worked with songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. and producer Ariel Rechtshaid on the “‘70s styled shimmery disco ballad” “When We Were Young,” the second single from her album 25. She indicated in her Rolling Stone feature that the Elton John inspired ballad was her favorite on 25. The piano used on the recording belonged to iconic minimalist composer Philip Glass. The piano is in Jesso’s grandmother’s house. Adele explained, “It used to be this mad party house and for some reason [Glass’s] piano was there so we wrote the song on that.” In a town hall interview for SiriusXM’s The Spectrum, Adele described the setting of “When We Were Young” as a party with old friends and acquaintances, with “everyone that you’ve ever fallen out with, everyone that you’ve ever loved, everyone that you’ve never loved…And you’re all thrown together at this party when you’re like 50, and it doesn’t matter and you have so much fun and you feel like you’re 15 again.”

[Verse 1]
Everybody loves the things you do
From the way you talk to the way you move
Everybody here is watching you
'Cause you feel like home, you're like a dream come true
But if by chance you're here alone
Can I have a moment before I go?
'Cause I've been by myself all night long
Hoping you're someone I used to know

[Pre-Chorus]
You look like a movie
You sound like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young


[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old, it made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song

[Verse 2]
I was so scared to face my fears
Nobody told me that you'd be here
And I swear you'd moved overseas
That's what you said when you left me

[Pre-Chorus]
You still look like a movie
You still sound like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old, it made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
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[Refrain]
(When we were young)
(When we were young)
(When we were young)
(When we were young)

[Bridge]
It's hard to admit that everything just takes me back
To when you were there, to when you were there
And a part of me keeps holding on just in case it hasn't gone
'Cause I still care, do you still care?

[Breakdown]
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Refrain]
(When we were young)
(When we were young)
(When we were young)
(When we were young)

[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old, it made us restless
Oh, I'm so mad I'm getting old, it makes me reckless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
When we were young